When the living being believes that it itself and "all living things" are merely "matter", and that the emergence of the Earth and of the planets, and the ensuing animal life, are merely a matter of chance
1435. With this we have seen that the entire evolutionary process of life has led the terrestrial human being downwards towards, so to speak, complete ignorance of its own "cosmic" existence, so that, in the worst case, it considers itself to be nothing but "matter"; it believes that, like matter, it is subject to having a beginning and an end, and constitutes merely an absolutely temporary phenomenon. It no longer has any consciousness or knowledge of its "cosmic" sphere. On the other hand it has colossal knowledge of matter and, as we have mentioned several times, can make the elements work for it. It presses buttons, and engines work and transform matter according to its wish and desire. But of its own life or the life of its neighbour it knows nothing. It thinks, acts and works only in "matter". Its knowledge or philosophy of life is merely an acceptance of "matter". It denies all spiritual or all conscious life behind everything that lies outside the domain of its own physical senses, which in other words really means, the entire universe. This gigantic phenomenon with its galaxies, stars, suns and planets is merely a collection of "dead matter", in which it itself represents the very highest expression of conscious life or thinking. What a contrast to humility this mental state reveals here! The ant goes around thinking it is an elephant, thinking it is life above life. The chaff thinks it is playing ball with the wind. The speck of dust thinks it is the master of the world, but it is afraid of "death" and annihilation. In another case theories are even put forward about the emergence of the Earth and the planets being due simply to pure chance, to a kind of accident, and that the entire, vast host of stars or suns that we see sparkling and shining in the sky every night have no planets at all. According to this, all animal life, and thereby the life of terrestrial human beings, would be something quite abnormal in the universe. The normal state of things would thus be that there would be no life at all. Thus the vast forces of the huge suns and stars exist not in order to create life but to promote an eternal, absolute "death".
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